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What You Should Do Before Black Friday
Holiday sales events keep growing - Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday and on and on. Your shop needs to be in tip-top ship by the time holiday sales ramp up, especially if you want to participate in one or more of these events. But what should you do to make sure you are ready?
Focus your advertising. Publicize the biggest deals you have to offer and promote those heavily during those key times. For instance, if you are offering 50% of a selection of products during Black Friday, take out an ad or multiple ads leading up to that event and throughout the duration of the deal.
Scope out the competition. Check what other similar businesses are advertising for the weekend. It will likely give you some ideas on what you can offer and where you can compete.
Update your website - pushing deals and holiday-centric items to the forefront. Take a look at your website now. Are there any things you need to take care of right now to have a smooth holiday season? You do not want to be working on your website when you should be making sales. Take the next week to get things in line.
And are you well-staffed and ready to serve your customers well? Any issues here should be resolved before you launch any specials or participate in any sales events.
If you sell physical items, check your inventory, make sure you have enough in stock. If not, order more now so you have them in time. Also, ensure you well-staffed and your employees are ready to serve your customers.
If you have a brick and mortar business, consider having something extra for your buyers on Black Friday, a place to sit, a small snack, a hot drink at this time of year can go a long way in customer retention. The holiday season is a great time to find new customers.
Black Friday will likely be your busiest weekend of the business year. You will get e-mails from buyers who are looking for more information or having trouble with a transaction. Be ready for that. Support is key to providing a positive buying experience. Having a perceptive and helpful staff in place will make everything run smoothly. Maybe that means you need to get some rest pre-holidays so you’re in tip-top shape, maybe your staff needs a refresher course or maybe it means you need to hire and train someone to watch emails and supplement your efforts.
Is there anything we missed? Consider your business and what loose ends you might need to tie up to really leverage this big buying season. Black Friday weekend is right around the corner. You don’t want to miss out on sales because you weren’t prepared. Get your deals ready, your staff at the ready and your site in peak shape.
Good Luck and Good Sales!
First, you want to make sure you are advertising your business. This is definitely the time to increase your advertising budget.
Do not forget about Social Media. If your business does not already have a social media promotion plan, now is the time to start. Focus on the big two: Facebook and Twitter if you are new to this. Promoting engagement on Twitter and boosting posts on Facebook are two great places to start.Focus your advertising. Publicize the biggest deals you have to offer and promote those heavily during those key times. For instance, if you are offering 50% of a selection of products during Black Friday, take out an ad or multiple ads leading up to that event and throughout the duration of the deal.
Scope out the competition. Check what other similar businesses are advertising for the weekend. It will likely give you some ideas on what you can offer and where you can compete.
Next, get your business - your e-commerce website or brick and mortar - ready.
Update your website - pushing deals and holiday-centric items to the forefront. Take a look at your website now. Are there any things you need to take care of right now to have a smooth holiday season? You do not want to be working on your website when you should be making sales. Take the next week to get things in line.
And are you well-staffed and ready to serve your customers well? Any issues here should be resolved before you launch any specials or participate in any sales events.
If you sell physical items, check your inventory, make sure you have enough in stock. If not, order more now so you have them in time. Also, ensure you well-staffed and your employees are ready to serve your customers.
If you have a brick and mortar business, consider having something extra for your buyers on Black Friday, a place to sit, a small snack, a hot drink at this time of year can go a long way in customer retention. The holiday season is a great time to find new customers.
Finally, prepare yourself and your staff for the busyness of holiday sales events.
Black Friday will likely be your busiest weekend of the business year. You will get e-mails from buyers who are looking for more information or having trouble with a transaction. Be ready for that. Support is key to providing a positive buying experience. Having a perceptive and helpful staff in place will make everything run smoothly. Maybe that means you need to get some rest pre-holidays so you’re in tip-top shape, maybe your staff needs a refresher course or maybe it means you need to hire and train someone to watch emails and supplement your efforts.
Is there anything we missed? Consider your business and what loose ends you might need to tie up to really leverage this big buying season. Black Friday weekend is right around the corner. You don’t want to miss out on sales because you weren’t prepared. Get your deals ready, your staff at the ready and your site in peak shape.
Good Luck and Good Sales!